I wasn't going to post this after the disaster the original thread turned into, but I just reviewed my PMs and have over a dozen requests for updates. I don't have time to update everyone individually, so it looks like I'm doing a follow-up thread anyway. I appreciate, in advance, the lack of personal attacks and name-calling, thank you.

So I haven't quite made it to 1500 miles on the 25% canola blend yet and I'll be dumping it and sending in a sample when I do. I also haven't driven much in the last 2.5 months, a total of maybe 50 miles in the 9 weeks leading up to last week, about 100 miles since then. Prior to parking it, the engine was running great, the oil seemed to have a lot of life left in it (I wish I had send in a sample at 1300 miles so I had numbers to back this up), smelled like motor oil, felt like motor oil, looked like good clean oil, engine running great. I'd posit that I could have run this oil to 6k, or farther, had I not parked it. When I have reason to drive more frequently again, I'll repeat the test and hopefully provide results to back that up.

Now the bad: Like I said, everything was going great until I let it sit and rot for over 2 months. Just before I started driving it regularly again (last week), the oil had begun smelling rancid, now feels a little thicker than it probably should, has darkened up a lot, I can tell it's oxidized quite a bit, and the engine is definitely running like it's due for an oil change.

This is all subjective, of course, since I haven't sent my sample in yet. No worries, that'll come soon enough; I want to run this oil up to 1.5k, which will happen tonight, first.

It is also important to note that this oil was put in on February 3rd, so it's a bit over 6 months old. A decent OCI for a vehicle that's been driven, and driven hard. I stress my engine and, by extension, my oil, with a heavy foot, frequent redline, and extended runs at high RPMs. I've had Mobil 1 graciously bow out ofter only 3 months of service and this oil was still going strong after 3.5, until I parked it.

My (inconclusive) analysis, at this point, is that canola is a good (I'd like to say excellent, but won't without numbers to back it up) additive for a daily driven vehicle, but horrible for a short-tripper or rarely-driven car. My basis for this is the consistency of performance and lack of apparent degradation, even under high-stress, high-load driving conditions, while I was frequently driving the car, coupled with the rapid deterioration of the oil when left to sit.

Would I run this again? Absolutely! And I will, when I have reason to drive it at least 3 or 4 time a week. My next fill, however, will be 4 quarts of 5w30 Royal Purple, which I know, from experience, will last much better in storage.

Don't bother jumping me for not posting a UOA; just stay tuned and you'll see it for yourself.

Thanks to all who were interested in this experiment and all who will take interest in my results.

Vegetable oil even gummed up my hair clippers. It would never cross my mind to use it in a car's engine. I would be very interested in seeing the inside of that oil filter.

It was only after much research and contemplation that I decided to try this. I used a very stout oil (Rotella T6) as a base and only mixed in 25% canola; running 100% just wasn't in the cards for me.

Some of the uses canola has seen (military service -- and not for cooking -- and as a heavy machinery lube) are much more demanding than the inside of your typical engine. These are constant-use, minimal-maintenance scenarios, which seems to coincide with my experience; this oil seemed like it was gonna last dang near forever until I stopped using it for a while.

This is something fresh and interesting. What a relief getting away from the typical Auto-RX-Kreen-MMO discussions. Not that I mind discussing Kreen and MMO but it is nice to hear about something new. And I had no idea Canola oil was being used by the military, etc.

We need a jazzy name for this concoction as we can't allow "Caterham blend" to have all of the spotlight. How about RoNula blend or Kembro C6 or Cantella?

Nope, no VOA, I wasn't thinking that far ahead. When I revisit this after my next OCI, I'll send in a VOA sample, so we have something to compare with. I also plan to drive at least 30min/day and send in a sample every 1500 miles next time. I guess I'm sticking with the sample every 1500 miles this time around, too, just draining at the first interval.

Which... by the way... I fell short of by approximately 5 miles tonight. That should leave me enough mileage to get the engine warmed up before I drain it.

As for the name, if we want to stay true to the makeup of the oil, Brassica T6 (Canola is made from a specific strain of rapeseed, or Brassica napus) sounds good to me. Using the genus and species spares us the negative connotations that would be associated with the common name, which would have lead to Rapetella C6, or another even more off-color name that's too risque for this forum (hint: ****lube).

Ahem... Brassica T6. I like it.

Of course, I'd like to make sure it's worthwhile before I get attached to it enough to officially name it.

We need a jazzy name for this concoction as we can't allow "Caterham blend" to have all of the spotlight. How about RoNula blend or Kembro C6 or Cantella?

I vote of "Cantella."

I'm surprised that the oil went rancid. I was thinking with a 25 percent mixture that the 75 percent regular oil would kill any bugs that decided to dine on the 25 percent veggie oil.

I have two electric hair clippers and use olive oil to keep them lubed. One set gums up from time to time while the other has never given me a problem.

I have used USED cooking oil, (filtered before I used it) as a bar and chain lube for my chain saw which gummed up within minutes of operation. Using FRESH cooking oil however has given me no problem at all.

What I would like to see during this experiment would be the inside of the oil filter and the valve covers removed. If it's possible, drop the oil pan as well and see what the pick up on the oil pump looks like.

Many thanks for the update. As you may remember, I posted a link to a study in Postal vehicles where they used vege oil based lubricants. It worked great except for one thing: short OCI.I guess you came across the very same limitation.I guess those omega fatty acids are not good for engines.